By Damola Emmanuel
The controversy stirred by the decision of the All Progressives Party, APC, to anoint Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, a ranking senator representing Yobe North Constituency of Yobe State in the Senate, may not abate soon.
This is because a newly elected senator has added his voice to the babel calling for true democracy in the election of principal officers and committees in both chambers of the National Assembly.
The Senator-elect, Prince Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi, who will represent Osun East Senatorial District in the 9th Senate, gave thumb down to the APC’s decision, saying it was not in sync with sound democratic principles.
National Chairman of the APC, had, on Monday, announced that the party had chosen Lawan, who became a senator in 2007, and clocks 60 this year, as its candidate for the Senate Presidency to succeed Dr. Bukola Saraki whose tenure on May 29.
Ali Ndume, another APC senator who represents Borno South in the senate is fulminating over the party’s decision to endorse a candidate for the position of Senate President and slammed the door against him and other qualified contenders for the office.
“As a party that is supposed to be democratic and as a government that insists on allowing due process to prevail, this is strange,”Ndume snarled in an interview. “A candidate of APC normally emerges by one of three means, namely-consensus, indirect elections and direct primaries.
Even more painful to Ndume is the fact that after the decision was announced, no question was entertained.
“…Such a decision was taken and we were not given the chance to ask questions,” he said. “We were not allowed to make comments. The president made his remarks and after that, the national anthem was recited.”
Although he is a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator-elect Fadahunsi, a retired Assistant Comptroller General of Customs who holds the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger, OON, was equally miffed by the development.
In an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, the nation’s capital, on Friday, the Senator-elect for Osun East Senatorial District of Osun State warned that if sustained, such actions could distort the current democracy and make a mockery of legislative process. He, therefore, appealed to the Presidency and the ruling All Progressives Congress to allow the elected lawmakers choose their principal officers
His words: “The executive must allow the principles of separation of powers take root in this country, particularly in the soon-coming dispensation. We must operate according to globally accepted best democratic practices. Any interference in the affairs of the legislative arm by the executive, or any political party would negate the course of democracy.”
“What is the business of the executive with the election of principal officers of the National Assembly? Why should the election process of the National Assembly leadership create the kind of tension it is currently generating within the APC leadership?
“The way the party is going about the business might bring unintended consequences for Senator Ahmed Lawan who has been anointed as candidate for the position of Senate President. The actions of the National Chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, is like that of a headmaster giving instructions to his pupils. And senators are not primary school pupils. They are the people’s representatives.”
Still, Fadahunsi would not quit. He posited that the party ought to have trod the path of diplomacy and be discreet with its lobby, rather than grandstanding about imposing an anointed candidate on the Senators. The party’s current posturing, the senator-elect continued, was capable of exposing Senator Lawan to the danger of being perceived and labelled as a stooge of the executive. “And I don’t any self-respecting ranking senator would want to accept and wave such profile as a banner,” Fadahunsi said.
Rather than dissipate energy, valuable time and resources on the issue of Principal Officers of the National Assembly, the Senator-elect advised the executive to deplore its energy and zeal to revamping and regenerating the country’s economic fortunes that have dwindled dangerously in recent years and require special attention.
“Majority of the elected Senators are well accomplished and matured people,” Fadahunsi enthused. “Most of them have played significant roles in our nation’s development. They have been entrusted with leadership positions in the past.
“Some have been governors of their various states before contesting and winning their senate seats. Therefore, they know people among them that have the requisite leadership skills and qualities to steer the ship of the red chamber, and by extension, our nation, to a safe shore. They are the representatives of their people. They are not representing parties but their constituents.
“Once a senator is elected, he or she automatically becomes a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not just an APC or PDP Senator. Therefore, the executive arm and the APC leadership should, for the sake of our national interest, outgrow primordial tendencies and divisive interests in the legislative arm of government. We must learn to do things according to global best practices, as it is done in the civilised world.”
The former Customs boss, therefore, charged the 9th Senate “to strive hard and be committed to bills that can improve the economy and fight poverty which, according to him, is the biggest problem confronting the country. This is because posterity and history will judge every man for their actions and inactions in improving the quality of life of Nigerians.”
